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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28933326">Flowers in Their Eyelashes, They Look so Beautiful</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizzyLovesPink/pseuds/LizzyLovesPink'>LizzyLovesPink</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alive Bianca di Angelo, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different Powers, Alternate Universe - Gods &amp; Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Parents, Author Tries to Make it All Flowery, Bianca is a lesbian because yes, Brother-Sister Relationships, But Like We Knew All That Already, But She Likely Fails Once Again, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Lesbian Bianca di Angelo, No Line-Dividers, No Plot/Plotless, One Shot, Present Tense, Sibling Bonding, Spoilers for The Titan's Curse, The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus) Spoilers, i wrote this at 3 am</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 14:14:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,600</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28933326</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizzyLovesPink/pseuds/LizzyLovesPink</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Bianca and Nico aren't the demigod children of Hades and Maria di Angelo but instead are the godly children of Hades and Persephone. This changes many things, and many other things remain the same. Parent/Power Switch AU </p><p>Also posted on FanFiction.net</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bianca di Angelo &amp; Nico di Angelo, Hades/Persephone (Percy Jackson), Implied/Minor Bianca di Angelo/Kayla Knowles, Implied/Minor Nico di Angelo/Will Solace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>78</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flowers in Their Eyelashes, They Look so Beautiful</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Bianca is born, it is not in the thirties or the present day; rather, it is when spring itself first comes, flowers pushing out of the frosty ground, sunbeams shining golden through the trees, the sky turning bluer and bluer to contrast with its previous white-grey hue. She is still darkly-coloured, with raven hair and a vintage taste of fashion, but her mother is the goddess of spring, of life and rejuvenation, of creation and rebirth, the Queen of the Underworld who still wears her simple pastel robes and flowery crowns in her long hair. </p><p>Two years later, or so the mortals say, gods never really did keep the passing of years very well, she is blessed with a baby brother who looks just like her and quickly latches onto her. </p><p>They grow quickly into preteens, as expected of gods. They hear stories of their uncles, Poseidon who rules the sea, and Zeus who rules the sky, and Bianca finds it interesting how they all rule one specific domain of humanity.  Sea, sky, soil. Hades may represent death, but every once in a while, she hears whispers from the spirits around her who say in other worlds, he represents the earth and all its riches and metals found in the soil. </p><p>Their mother may be spring, but they firmly embody death, or so they thought, until one day Bianca and Nico play in the mud near one of the rivers and make some flowers spring up suddenly. The spirits pay them no mind, but Hades notices. As much he tries to discourage their powers, Bianca feels the spring power grow stronger within her. Her clothing slowly changes from drab grey and black into light pink and violet, emulating her mother through her braid and weaving the flowers she grew herself through it. Nico tries to weave flowers through his own hair, but he just can't quite get it, and she'd always smile and help him the best she could. </p><p>Persephone does come, every six months, without fail, and the two run to her to greet her in open arms. She is warm and motherly, beautiful yet slightly aloof. They spend as much time with her as they can, Bianca especially, as the look on her face when she learns Bianca has the same powers as her is one she never wants to forget. </p><p>Time is meaningless in the Underworld, but the years go on and change on the surface. Bianca knows it, for the spirits never stop coming but they always change. They used to be in armor and robes, speaking of grand battles and castles and worldly explorations, but now their clothes are looser and embroidered, and now they speak of wars and turmoils and diseases. She's never sure what to think of them now and tries to ignore them even though their cold hands touch her at times. It's never malicious, just something they do, her being a goddess of death in her own right and all. Nico is far more content to converse with them, asking them about their lives and deaths and everything in-between. He's especially fascinated by those who died deaths of neglect or overindulgence related to food and drink. Bianca supposes it's not that strange; they are gods, after all, and thus have no earthly want for food or drink. Even if they did, they could never partake, for their mother tried once and now she is confined for six months in the Underworld, unable to see her beautiful flower gardens. She would never let such a fate befall her two children. </p><p>Once Persephone does come back and asks to take her children to the surface with her. Nothing extreme, she just wants them to see her garden. Hades almost fights before considering and eventually tells her to do whatever she wants. Persephone tells them so and Bianca cannot hide her delight. She likes the Underworld, but it is often foggy, chilly, lonely, and isolating. She walks the halls of her house for days and gets nowhere, her voice bounces off everything, and everyone she touches is cold and fades away. It may work for Nico, but she is firmly a child of the light and sunshine just like her mother. </p><p>Bianca cannot believe the sunshine when she first steps out into it. Warm, earthly, golden, ethereal. She bathes in it and feels instantly rejuvenated, her skin and hair darkening, her clothing turning brighter. She hears birds too, chirping in the trees merrily, butterflies and bees flying around the flowers, frogs croaking, the wind rustling the trees, and feels the softness of the grass under her feet. She holds Nico's hands and smiles at his entranced face as they wander through the garden together. They taste the dewdrops and flower nectar in all their sweetness, gently run their fingers along silky pastel petals, lay in the warm grass and look up at the blue sky together, so close they can almost touch it, swim in the cool pond together and splash and laugh for hours, and use their own powers to strengthen their mother's beloved plants and feel the sun on their skin even more. </p><p>Before they know it, spring is over, and it's back to the Underworld for them and Persephone. Bianca finds herself saddened and sulks for a while, not forever, but enough. She cultivates a small patch of flowers in the mud by one of the rivers and orders the spirits to never touch it. They obey, of course they would, who'd want to trifle with the godly daughter of Hades, but Bianca still needs that extra assurance. With her powers, the flowers never need true sunlight or water, just her voice, singing and speaking to them whenever she got the chance. </p><p>As her powers strengthen, so do Nico's, but his is less focused on flowers and spring and more on death and decay. Hades doesn't train him, he likely feels no need to, as Nico can speak to the dead clearly and fights alongside them every day, sparring to get stronger. Bianca feels if he were a demigod on the surface, he could easily summon them to do his bidding. She's not a pushover, she knows she belongs to death as much as she does to birth and hones her own powers. She can speak to spirits and reanimate dead things, a ghastly power that sickens her even if used for plants. Still, Hades looks at her sometimes with an odd look in his eye that vanishes when he sees Nico, and Bianca knows it's not enough, but she won't let it be enough. She can be Persephone while Nico is Hades, that doesn't bother her at all. </p><p>More time passes and the spirits show up wearing tight pants and jackets and speaking of vehicle accidents and electrocution. New types of technology are spoken about that fascinates Nico more than it does her. It seems he spends all day in his quarters, conversing with spirits about things like the Internet and cable television and iPods. She's content with her flowers, which now line the whole bank of that river, glowing in all different colours. </p><p>Once Demeter arrives and sits the siblings down. She offers them cereal and frowns when they just stare. She introduces herself as their grandmother and then storms off to see Persephone. There's a lot of arguing in their house that night, so Bianca lets Nico lay his head in her lap while she gently strokes his locks and hums to him. Their cereal remains untouched on the table. Demeter comes back and announces they're coming to the surface with her and she won't take 'no' for an answer. </p><p>The surface? But they are death-gods, they belong in the Underworld. They had only been above a few times to play in Persephone's garden. </p><p>Hades answers then, saying it's for the best. They may be gods, but they cannot be sheltered for much longer. Their mental growth is stunted and they need experience with mortals to properly understand the weight on their shoulders. Bianca holds Nico tight, saying neither will go, but Demeter is insistent and so the two must go. </p><p>Demeter does not let them live with her. The two quickly grow to secretly dislike her and her overbearing ways. She is family, but what of it? Everything in her house was wrapped up so tightly nobody could properly use it and all she served was cereal, bread, and porridge, none of which the siblings touched. She flits about from room to room and barely pays attention to her grandchildren. Eventually, the two decide enough is enough and slip away in the dead of night. For gods, it's easy enough. </p><p>What isn't easy even for a god is figuring out where to go next. They know bits and pieces of life from the spirits, but still find themselves woefully unprepared. Nico suggests they just keep walking until they find someplace better, someplace more secure, someplace they'll both be welcomed. Bianca agrees and thus they walk. They walk and walk and walk. They can walk endlessly, not having the needs of mortals, but they still have to stop to figure out where they're even going to, and replace clothing that gets worn-out. They both discover a love of vintage clothing a lot of spirits that died during the most recent wartime wore; Bianca likes patterned dresses with gloves and hats and Nico likes bomber jackets and jeans. </p><p>One day, they both get caught short. A monster catches their godly scent and plows after them when they're resting in the shade. Bianca doesn't recall what monster it even was and eventually decides it's not worth remembering. What she does remember is grabbing Nico and running with him, telling him to keep running and not look back. In her nervousness, petals sprung up from under her soles which she deemed useless. They kept running and running, a trail of petals marking their path, until eventually they caught the overwhelming scent of strawberries on the wind and followed it. They rushed past a forest and collapsed on the ground, feeling overwhelmed by magical barriers. </p><p>Nico later would say they smelled strawberries and wanted to see them. Both were taken into the infirmary to check for wounds and many were confused when they found none. They were told they were at Camp Half-Blood, a place designed to hide demigods and keep them safe from harm. Bianca asked innocently why they were there, as they were not demigods but gods. </p><p>She still gets asked about having the whole medical cabin bow to her on their knees. </p><p>Nico confesses they're children of Hades and Persephone and both demonstrate it the best they can; her with flowers and him with summoning a small dead bird that flies around the head of campers sometimes. The heads all whisper to each other, arguing and debating what to do with two actual godly children. They need protection, but why were they cast out of the Underworld to begin with? </p><p>Eventually, they are allowed to stay. There is a Hades Cabin made up for them, and while Nico very quickly settles in, Bianca feels exhausted and confined by the dark shadows and grey colour palette. She finds a second home in her grandmother's cabin, surrounded by warmth and flowers and kindness. Flowers still spring up when she walks, a fact that amazes campers whenever she passes. Many are awkward around her and Nico still, sensing power from them that no other demigod, even the most powerful, truly radiate. </p><p>Learning to be mortal is another hard feat. </p><p>Bianca and Nico are willing to wear the camp shirt, no matter how awfully orange it is, and indeed both siblings keep each other giggling into the night over different comparisons they make to that shirt colour, but everything else is a challenge. They must eat with other campers, confined to their own table, and they awkwardly stare at whatever food they're presented. Nobody knows why until one camper, a camper from Athena Cabin naturally, suggests they probably have issues because of the story of Persephone. Everyone then has to reassure them it's perfectly normal and okay for them to eat on the surface, nothing they eat will confine them. </p><p>She eats first, a simple cheese sandwich, and finds her eyes lighting up at the taste. It pops in her mouth and leaves her devouring the rest of her meal. The heads sigh in relief when her and Nico have good appetites the remaining meals. Some were worried the siblings would require more godly meals, such as nectar or ambrosia, but it seems mere mortal food would sate them just fine. Of course with the discovery of mortal food comes the discovery of<em> other</em> mortal things related to that, which Bianca and Nico deal with in their own separate ways. </p><p>Camp is hectic and hard to fully get adjusted to. They were never ones for physical combat, but find their own powers useless in such games. They find crafting to suit their needs just fine, and cultivating, and swimming in the late days of summer. </p><p>Demigods come and go, of course, and Bianca never forgets how her brother's face lights up when first meeting the son of Poseidon. She wants to take him aside and tease that he's their cousin, but finds she can never get around to it, for even she becomes smitten with many other faces at camp; a daughter of Zeus, a daughter of Athena, and so on. There are also quests to go on, and Bianca and Nico help when needed, but overall try to stay out of demigod affairs when they can. It would be cheating to use their powers, after all. Once Bianca nearly dies, and wonders if in another time, if she wasn't fortunate enough to be a goddess, if she would have. Instead she shadow-travels and decides to stay out of junkyards from that moment on. Still, the look on everyone's faces when her family arrives with undead backup in Manhattan is something she won't soon forget. </p><p>At one point, Nico arrives to camp in the dead of night in tears, sobbing and stammering. The grass under his feet dies as quickly as hers rejuvenates it, as she kneels before him and hugs him tight. He doesn't fully tell her what happened, but she doesn't need him to. For the first time, they sleep together in the same bunk, side-by-side, snuggling close together. </p><p>They remain at camp even when summer ends. It's highly unorthodox, but they have nowhere else to go and even Dionysus is hesitant to throw two gods to the possibly literal wolves out there. So, in camp they remain, growing succulent strawberries in the sun and practically hibernating by the fire in the snow. Once or twice they wonder if Hades has suddenly abandoned them and try to send him an Iris message, wondering if the Underworld has good reception. They never get any replies back and eventually stop trying. </p><p>Summers are their livelihood. In spring, they set everything up and help the plants bloom and bud just right, whereas in summer, they eagerly greet their old friends and new campers alike. Soon Bianca notices Nico eyeing one of the Apollo kids who's just his age and smiles to herself. She thinks of a particular smarty-pants blonde and remembers her own smitten feelings. Instead, she also cozies up in Apollo, with a girl with dyed green hair and cute freckles and loud clothing Bianca decides she likes. She introduces herself as Kayla and Bianca knows she does. </p><p>Their time in the mortal realm has aged them more; now they appear to be in their late-teens. Chiron explains it likely has to do with their magic, Persephone is the goddess of rebirth and rejuvenation so it'd make sense for them to occasionally sprout up like plants. They accept the answer and never question him again. </p><p>Once, Nico coaxes her out to a graveyard in the dead of night. It's cold and damp and she reluctantly sits on the ground and eats something called Mc'Donald's with him. It's not bad, and from the two of them the food flows to the ground below and summons a chatty spirit who admits their powers are both so strong they easily could've summoned it alone. The siblings admit that is correct, but Mc'Donald's is good. Nico chats to the spirit while Bianca secretly eats his leftover fries. </p><p>Soon, Chiron decides they have technically aged out of camp and asks what they'll do next. Bianca realizes she has no clue. What do they do now? Where do two gods go from here? She then realizes they would leave their beloveds behind and knows Nico couldn't do that. Yet they can't remain unaging counselors until the end of time. She holds Nico's hand and they walk the length of the camp borders together, just thinking. Nico spends his night with Will on the beach, having a dinner on the sand together, whereas Bianca spends hers in the crafting cabin with Kayla, making little string friendship bracelets, their hands occasionally grazing each other. They kiss, only once, when Percy pushes their canoe underwater as a joke, and once they washed up onshore they both kissed in victory and she tasted of salt and strawberries. Of nature. </p><p>They decide to leave, making many campers sad and coax them into staying, but they know they cannot. They aren't demigods by any stretch of the imagination. Suddenly, Persephone appears, disguised as a pretty florist, runs up to them, and hugs them. The trio disappear in a flurry of flowers, and Bianca briefly wonders if this is the way it's meant to be. </p><p>She still remains in the Underworld, tending to her flowers. A majority of her area is covered in flowers and hedges and now even fruit trees and she keeps to herself, humming and whispering to keep them happy. She rarely sees Nico and assumes he's off training with dead soldiers somewhere. Her stomach aches for human food, having tasted it and now upset at being denied it, but she is in the Underworld now and so doesn't dare. Demeter visits on occasion and tries to coax spoons of cereal and oatmeal down their throats and still they refuse. Persephone still comes every six months, as expected, and sometimes takes them to her garden on the surface, letting them delight in eating fruit and drinking nectar until they grow sick, pleased they will never be confined to one place. </p><p>Nico looks more and more like Hades as the years go by, and she supposes in her own way she does too, but she does not own a mirror and never really has. Time becomes a blur to her once again, she just grows flowers and sings to Nico and refuses Demeter's food in an endless cycle. </p><p>One time, Nico comes to her in tears, stammering and pale, and Bianca is quick to piece together what happened. It's been years and years on the surface at this point, it was bound to happen eventually, even for demigods. She just holds him close and runs her hands through his hair and softly sings to him. She sees Will's spirit after that point on occasion, she would know those eyes anywhere, but ignores him out of politeness. Kayla had arrived shortly before him, not as old because it was an accident, but old enough for it to be strange. She even recognized Bianca on arrival, saying it was good to see her again, but Bianca told her to move along. </p><p>Even more time passes. Hades and Persephone do not fade to dust, but do not live up to the expectations of their followers. Hades passes his crown onto Nico, who wears it with as much pride as he can muster. Persephone passes hers onto Bianca, who is flattered and honored both. She wears hers humbly, savouring her first taste of sunshine in centuries as she arrives in her mother's old garden. </p><p>Once, when she's tending it, the son of Poseidon arrives; no, not the son any longer, but Poseidon himself, the new Poseidon. </p><p>"Did you know your brother had a crush on me when I was younger?" He asks in such a forward way Bianca finds herself laughing. </p><p>"Everyone did," Butterflies flutter around her, settling in her long hair. Bees do too, looking for pollen and nectar among the blossoms she wears. </p><p>"Never did I imagine...I'd get a position like this," He leaves then, and Bianca is made to wonder why he came to her and for what purpose. She ultimately decides it matters little. </p><p>Soon, humanity replace their visions of Hades and Persephone, no longer their parents but themselves. In the new stories, Persephone visits her brother in the Underworld every six months to keep him from being lonely down there, unknowingly plunging the world into a terrible winter every time. Bianca may take issue with some renditions, but one thing she does know is this; every six months she <em>does</em> return to the Underworld and replaces her pastel pink with dark grey and her flowers with skulls and sits alongside her brother, ruling the Underworld alongside him because there's too much for one person to deal with, even if they<em> are </em> a god. </p><p>It's fitting for her, since she is death and birth all in one. It's doable for her, because she is a true goddess through and through. </p><p>She holds Nico's hand and together they step into the throne room.</p>
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